Applied Materials, Inc.

Robert L Otwell

Thomas I Kirkpatrick

Eric Anton Nering

Bryan Von Lossberg

A vacuum processing system has a wafer handling chamber, such as a mini-environment, for moving wafers therethrough. The wafer handling chamber has a wafer aligner, or orienter, for aligning the wafers according to the requirements of a process that the wafer is to undergo in the system. The wafer aligner is disposed at a location in the wafer handling chamber to minimize the number of movements that the wafer makes as it passes through the wafer handling chamber, to minimize interference between wafer handlers, or robots, when more than one wafer handler is used in the wafer handling chamber and to minimize the footprint area of the system. The presence of the wafer aligner in the wafer handling chamber eliminates the need to provide a separate wafer aligning chamber in the system.

Wafer aligner in center of front end frame of vacuum system

An inventive module and fabrication system for processing semiconductor devices reduces the overall cost per unit processed, by eliminating the need for expensive rotational robots. The modules and fabrication system are configured so that wafer handlers are required to travel only along linear paths. The inventive modules may include an integral conveyor or may couple a remote conveyor. Preferably, the conveyor is positioned normal to the wafer handler's transport path in order to achieve the most compact footprint.

Cost effective modular-linear wafer processing

The present invention generally provides a workpiece handling device and, more particularly, a vacuum operated chuck for securing a substrate to a substrate handling device. In one embodiment, the invention provides a chuck having three vacuum chuck rings projecting from a chuck base and having no resilient materials such as o-rings or the like exposed to the operating environment within which the wafer is being handled. In another embodiment, the present invention provides a substrate handling chuck having removable vacuum chuck rings for permitting interchangeable chuck ring elements for a particular application.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Robert L Otwell